


I Hate To Love You

by ACannibalisticSkittle



Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-02-07
Updated: 2013-02-07
Packaged: 2017-11-28 13:58:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACannibalisticSkittle/pseuds/ACannibalisticSkittle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fang and Max have hated each other for years, both actually harbouring a deep secret of their own. Wings. But when something takes a turn for the worst, how will Max deal? And who is really her new friend on the internet who claims to be like her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Hate To Love You

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old story from my FF.N account that I'm transferring over. Read and enjoy it, I suppose.

**Fang: Did you get away from your parents?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Yeah, ditched them at the store. :):) :)**

**Fang: Anyone else at home?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Just my sister... but she's asleep. ;)**

**Fang: Cool, so NOW will you tell me where you live?**   **Maybe if you told me where you live...I could give you these chocolate chip cookies I just bought. ;)**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Hmm... tempting. :)**

**Fang: But alas, these cookies shall never be eaten.**   ***eats cookie***

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Oh, those poor, sweet, sweet cookies :) You know I'm a sucker for... chocolate chip. ;0**

**Fang: Well...if you tell me WHERE YOU LIVE.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: How do I know you're not just a stalker?**

**Fang: Told your friends about your wings yet?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: No, I want to keep my secret a little longer.**

**Fang: Same**.  **My friends would all freak out if I told them**

 **Story_of_a_Mutant: Hmm... I would be more of an outcast than I already am.**   **I might get enough courage to tell them if you tell me where YOU live.**

**Fang: Not a chance.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Even for a girl like me?**   **:)**

 **Fang: Nope. And how do I know you're a girl anyway?**   **You could be a creepy pedo for all I know.**

 **Story_of_a_Mutant: I could be. :)**   **That just proves my point. You could be one too. No amount of cookies in the world could make me give that up.**

"Maaaax, can I use your laptop?" Ella called, barging in. Max quickly closed the screen, trying to avoid letting her sister see it. Ella narrowed her eyes.

"What is it, Max?" Ella asked.  _Crap,_ Max thought.  _If Ella finds out I'm talking to someone I don't know, she'll chew me out._ Ella stood next to the laptop with her hands on her hips.

"Why are you trying to hide the screen from me?"she asked suspiciously, giving Max a glare.

"Maybe it's just because I don't want my little sister looking at my stuff," Max replied, the perfect fail imitation of nonchalance.

Ella smirked. "Ooooh, Maxie's hiding something," she teased.

"What's it your business?" Max asked, scowling at her sister. "It's got nothing to do with you—hey!" Ella grabbed the laptop from Max. And before even Max could react, Ella had the screen open, and her eyes were scanning the page eagerly.

"Ooh-la-la, Max has a boyfriend," Ella said, especially suggestively. "And he sounds like a stalker too... Is he hot? "

"How would I know?"Max asked. "And it's none of your business!"she said again. Ella grinned wickedly. Max knew it was a sign of something about to go terribly wrong.

"He's still online," Ella said in a singsong tone. "I wonder what would happen if I replied..." Her fingers started tapping against the keys. Max's eyes widened.

"Give. Me. Back. My. Laptop," she hissed.

Ella's eyes filled with glee as the computer dinged with the sign of a reply. She sat completely still, then burst into hysterics. Max snatched the laptop before it hit the floor. Max unwillingly looked down to see what they had said.

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Can I get you in bed sometime, honey?**

**Fang: WTF HAPPENED?**

Max turned to Ella.

"WHY THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT?"she yelled. Ella's only response was to giggle. Max was irritated. She couldn't believe Ella had done that. She yelled uselessly at Ella as Ella just sat there with a grin on her face.

"Max, I just said what you were too afraid to say," Ella replied.

"I barely even know him," Max protested, but already, her voice seemed less harsh as her fingers typed out another quick message to Fang. The computer dinged with a reply, and Max smiled when she read it.

"Good, he doesn't hate me," she sighed. Ella's smile slowly started to fade away, into something more sympathetic. Max hated that look. She knew what was coming now.

"You know Max, you need to get some real friends. Not just on the internet," Ella said in a soft voice. Max avoided her eyes.

"I don't need friends," Max said with a fake smile, trying to cover up when she was really feeling. But Ella saw through that weak mask easily.

"Really, Max?"

"Yeah,  _really_ ," she insisted.

Ella just gave a sad smile and got up to leave.

"Ella," Max said softly. Ella turned to see a wry smile play across Max's face.

"Just because you were born pretty doesn't mean I am too. I'm perfectly fine living in a society where everything is based on looks." Max said the last part with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Max, I don't know what you're talking about. You're the prettiest person I know. And even if you weren't, people would love you anyway. Creepy stalker-internet guy doesn't know what you look like, but he likes you anyway. You're pretty on the inside too."

Max paused. "Ella, that may have been the most flowery, over-the-top think I have ever heard."

Ella just smiled. "You know... I could fix you up a bit... a little makeup, and a decent hair straightening, you could be prettier than any chick here." Ella got that evil look again. Max grunted and threw a pillow at her. Ella left with a laugh. Max turned back to the laptop and looked at Fang's blog. She wished that she could meet him in real life, but she wasn't about to tell him where she lived in case he was a creepy pedophile. He was just so witty, so funny, so sarcastic.

Yup, pretty dang perfect.

And best of all? He had wings. Just like her.

Max found that Fang had updated his blog again. She clicked and started to read it.

 **I think the world is**   **discriminating against Avian-Americans. No, it's not because the general public**   **doesn't know we exist. It's not because that in society, it's not acceptable to whip out your wings and fly away. It's not even because everyone who sees my hair automatically assumes I'm emo, though I don't see what that has to do with**   **having wings…**

 **My problem can be summed up into**   **three words: Gym locker rooms.**

 **Because, hell, whenever I take my**   **shirt off, people would see my wings. So I'm forced to hide in the bathroom. I swear, most of my friends think I have a disfiguring birthmark that's in the**   **shape of Latvia or something.**

**It freaking sucks.**

**You normal humans who keep complaining about how different you are and how no one understands you should stop. Think about what it's like to be in** _**our** _ **shoes. Us bird-kids. I've only found one other one, but there have got to be more, right? Knowing Itex and the experiments the whitecoats did on me, they wouldn't have stopped at making just two of us. They'd make an army, their sole purpose to take over the world. But as soon as they try, I'll be in their way stopping them, even if I have to die doing so.**

**But enough of that emo crap, I** _**do** _ **have some good news. The due** **date of that English essay that I never finished has been moved back to Monday. So now I can procrastinate on Sunday night and turn in a crappy one on Monday. This is nice. First I talk about death, and now I'm starting to talk about schoolwork.**

**This is the life of an incognito bird kid.**

**Comments**

**Sexybitch123: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG! DO U RLLY HAVE WINGS? PLZ**   **CALL ME MY NUMBER IZ 555-678-9887. U SOUND LYK SO HAWT!**

**Reply: …thank you?**

**AllForOne: You're willing to die to save us all? Major**   **respect, dude. Just so you know, almost everyone who reads this blog will be**   **willing to back you up.**

**Reply: *high five***

**Bury_the_castle: Do you think I could sneak into your gym**   **locker room? *winks* Lol, jkjkjkjk. Sort of. :P Reading your blog makes me**   **smile and frown at the same time. Smile because your writing is good and frown**   **because the whitecoats were pinheads.**

**Reply: Yes, they were.**

**OverMyHead: Who's the other bird kid?**

**Reply: That's for me to know and for you to eventually find**   **out when she agrees to let me mention her name.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant:** **Ha…I have a feeling I know who the other bird kid is…**

**Reply: I bet you do.**

Max sighed. She remembered the first time she had come across Fang's Blog.

-Flashback-

_She had to do a report on teeth. TEETH. How stupid was that? And worst of all, it was due tomorrow. A three thousand word paper on teeth due tomorrow? Sigh. She pressed the button on the computer and it hummed to life. She waited for the super slow school Internet to start up._

_Her teacher wanted her to research what different types of teeth were in a human mouth. Well, if I have to do this, I may as well make this interesting, she thought. She typed in "canines". Why canines? Well, they were sharp, so they had to be more interesting than molars, right? She would do those last. When glanced at the search results and gave a frustrated sigh. All the results were for dogs. She began to rapidly think of synonyms for "canines". She typed in "fang"._

_The first that came up was "Fang's Blog" Max just thought, "What the heck?" and just clicked on it._

_From the first sentence, she was captivated._

_She had never imagined that she would find someone with the same problem as her before. It was unimaginable that it would be this easy and that all it took was a simple Google Search. The writer—this Fang person—seemed to capture her feelings perfectly. Her feelings of being trapped inside a prison where she can't fly. Always knowing that she was different but never being able to let others know just how different she was. The most amazing thing was that he had had a similar childhood experience as she had. He had been tested on by an institution called Itex by scientists who would torture him day after day._

_Max traced the scars on her wrist. Those had been caused by them. She didn't dare try to recall those memories. So much pain, of growing up in a lab, knowing that your only purpose in life was to be a lab rat. She knew she had to contact this Fang guy, needed to know if he was really like her. She emailed him for the first time, and surprisingly, he replied to her email quite quickly. At first, they had verified that they were both telling the truth when they said that they had wings, but both knew things only someone with wings could know, so that issue was easily addressed. They talked about superficial things, on the surface things that wouldn't matter in life. Not of the School or anything of importance. And for that, Max was grateful. After endless hours of talking over the web, she felt less alone as she left the library that day. And even though she had no real friends, she felt like she was less of a freak. Because there was someone actually out there._

_Fang seemed...real._

_More real than anyone she knew, and she hadn't even met him in real life._

_He was like...her._

* * *

Max hated her sister sometimes.

Ella always knew how to make Max mad. There were many things that got on Max's nerves, but the one thing that did it the most was parties. Anything to do with parties, really. Max always hated them. They tended to give her nightmares.

And Ella just made her nightmares come to life.

Max was walking home from the library, where she had just finished up her book report on the human heart. She could have done it at home, but she didn't want to be around Ella. Ever since Ella found out that Max was talking to someone on the internet, the air seemed awkward between them. As Max rounded the block, several expensive-looking cars came into view.  _Strange_ , Max thought.  _Those don't belong to our neighbors._

Max walked up to their house, intending to find Ella and ask her about the cars parked in their driveway, but before she could reach the door, a drunken figure approached her. He was someone who went to her school—someone who she never bothered to learn the name of. A jock, she thought.

"Whouryou," he mumbled, trying to reach for her body. She backed away in disgust.  _What the hell is he doing here,_ she thought.

Max rushed to get inside, away from the revolting jock, where she ran into a distressing scene ahead of her. Music, bodies smashing together in a form of dance, people yelling and screaming as furniture went flying. Max only paused for a second as she pushed through the mess of bodies, determined to find her sister.

"Here, have a beer," someone said, pushing a glass into her hands. She kept a hold on it, because she wasn't sure what to do with it. She glanced left and right, hoping to find Ella in the mass of people. Suddenly, she bumped into someone, spilling her beer all over his shirt.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Max started, but then looked up at the figure's face, only to see Nick.

"Oh, it's you. In that case, I'm not so sorry," Max said, sourly. She and Nick had hated each other for as long as she could remember. He irritated her on a daily basis, and she didn't care for his crude attitude ether. He just scowled.

"What are you even doing here?" he snapped at her, while grabbing some napkins from the nearby table to wipe his shirt off.

"I LIVE here, bird-brain," she snapped back. Max already wasn't in a good mood, and she didn't need Nick to make things worse. As Nick finished wiping the drink off of his shirt, Max asked irritably, "Where is Ella?"

"Who's Ellie?" Nick asked over the loud music and roaring crowd.

"No, Ella! My sister, doofus!"

"Why would I even know who your sister is, let alone WHERE she is?"

"Are you kidding me? This is her party!"

"Is it?" he replied. Max couldn't believe Nick. He didn't even care whose party it was. He just wanted to drink and maybe get lucky with a girl or two. Not that he would even need to be lucky, because he was so 'popular'. He had girls all over him all the time. Only his bitchy girlfriend, Lissa, kept them at bay. Max really didn't care for Lissa almost as much as Nick. But besides that, Max needed to find her sister.

"Now get out of my way," Max said acerbically. She attempted to push Nick out of the way, but he refused to be moved. He only gave her a slight smirk as he looked down on her condescendingly.

"And what makes you think YOU can get away so fast?" he asked her.

"Um, maybe because this is MY house," she replied, hands on her hips. But Nick only smirked in reply. Max decided she really hated that smirk. Nick shook his head. There was just something _irresistibly_ adorable about Max. He had no idea why he wouldn't let her get past him, just a feeling that he'd be much better off talking to her than not. And Nick was someone who followed his feelings more than his brain.

Always.

But sometimes, those feelings got him in trouble.

Max tried to push past him again, this time using more force. Nick stumbled back, surprised by how hard she pushed him. As she hurried past, he trailed her, not giving up on talking to her. He caught her arm, and she whipped around.

"Wow, Nick. You may want to keep your hands off of me. Your girlfriend might get jealous," Max taunted. Just then, Lissa rushed up to them, and Nick let go immediately.

"What the hell are you doing with this loser?" Lissa said in what she assumed was a seductive tone. All she managed to achieve was a voice that sounded vaguely like she had a cold.

"Nothing, sweetie," Nick hurried to control the damage. He flashed Lissa a smile, and she almost seem to melt before his eyes.  _What an idiot,_  Max thought. Lissa allowed herself to be led away by Nick. But before they were about out of her sight, Nick turned around and winked at Max. Lissa was oblivious.

Max couldn't help the slight blush that rose on her cheeks. But then, she snapped out of it. She hated Nick.  _He's a jerk_ , she reminded herself. She started walking again, determined to find Ella. She weaved through the crowd, only to see unfamiliar faces. The more she looked, the more stressed she got. The atmosphere was foggy and disturbing. Max was finding it hard to concentrate with the loud music and the yelling.

Finally, she saw Ella in the sea of faces. There was a group of girls all around her age, wearing ridiculously revealing dresses. As Max approached them, they all turned to look at her in synchronization, like they were one being.

One girl gave her a disgusted look.

Max self-consciously fingered the hem of her battered hoodie. She felt under-dressed next to these girls. Behind the first girl, Ella was making cutting motions at her throat with her finger, willing Max to go away.

Max didn't.

There was an awkward silence as nobody spoke. It was almost like a face-off, and the thumping bass of the rock song coming on through the speakers didn't help either.

"Who is this?" a blonde asked Ella. "Why'd you invite  _her_?

Ella looked around wildly, as if looking for some place to hide. She shuffled from foot to foot. "She's my sister," she mumbled. Her voice rose at the end, so it sounded like less of a statement and more of a question.

"She's your  _sister_? Tsh. I guess we can't  _all_  be pretty," the blonde said. Max grinded her teeth. She resisted the urge to hit the girl and grabbed Ella's hand, dragging her away from the girls. Once they were on the outer part of the crowd, near the kitchen, Max started to chew Ella out.

"What IS this?" Max yelled at Ella. Ella flinched.

"It's a party," she replied nervously.

"There's BEER here. And people DRINKING. And MAKING OUT. You are in  _so_  much trouble once I tell Mom and Dad about this," threatened Max. Ella made futile attempts at protest but Max wasn't listening. She dragged Ella through the crowd to the stairs, but before she could get there, a guy jumped drunkenly in her path. He tried to pull her shirt up, but she smacked his hand away. Max was getting more and more impatient with this 'party'. The guy reached for her again but this time, it wasn't her that stopped him.

"Do you really want to fuck  _Maximum Ride_  of all people?" a male voice asked the offending guy. Max realized that the voice was Nick's. The guy's eyes widened.

"I never said I wanted THAT with her. I was just looking for some fun."

Nick snorted. "You want fun…with Max Ride."

The guy shifted from foot to foot nervously. "Um, well, there's no one better."

Max's anger flared. How dare they talk about her as if she wasn't even there, like some piece of fucking property?

"Excuse me?" Max said angrily, getting up in the guy's face. He didn't seem very intimidated by her threatening look.

"First of all, I'm better than anything you pick up any day, that's for sure," Max said. The guy stood there for a minute, dumbfounded. Had she just said that? Had she really just…

A crowd started to form around them, listening to the drama rising. The guy got a look on his face, and tried to be as intimidating as he could while intoxicated. Max just shoved him and walked past. The guy stumbled drunkenly, and fell butt first on the floor. Max dragged Ella up the stairs, maneuvering around the bodies of hormonal teenagers. Max pushed Ella roughly into her room, and throwing some clothes at her.

"Get dressed, and stay here, and don't move," Max ordered her. Ella nodded feebly. Max shut her door and headed downstairs, going to attempt to stop the party. When Max walked down the stairs though, what she was not expecting was chaos. More than before. People were running and screaming. Bodies were frantically trying to get out the back door, and red and blue lights flashed through the curtains. Max rushed out the front door to see at least fifteen police cars, and two VERY pissed off parents.

 

* * *

Max absentmindedly ran the vacuum over her carpet, staring blankly at the light/dark patterns she was making. It was almost a week after the party fiasco, and Max's punishment was almost over. Max felt sorry for Ella, who had received the worst of it, having thrown the party in the first place. Ella was grounded for a month, and Max kind of felt bad. But it was Ella's fault, and Max was mad about Ella bringing random people into the house.

And she was especially mad that she had invited Nick.

Ever since Max remembered, she had hated the dweeb. Maybe it was because he had strung her along and then had broken her young, gullible heart. He seemed to have a special talent for that. To him, she was just another girl. And he had been with  _lots_  of girls. He hadn't even had to try hard to get her to like him. One smile her way and she had been hooked. She probably hadn't even crossed his mind since then.

But that was back in seventh grade, and she was smarter now. Or so she told herself.

Max vacuumed in a messy approximation of the shape of Nick's face, flattening the carpet.  
Then she jumped on it, stomping on it until it wasn't recognizable anymore—as if it had ever been before.

Max heard a thump on the wall, from the direction of her sisters' bed room. Ella had punched the wall, warning Max to stop all the stomping. Max quietly turned off the vacuum and slowly sat down on the edge of her bed. She sat in a dazed trance, trying to piece her mind together again. She snapped out of it when her laptop made a dinging sound, noting a new IM message. She leaned over and wiggled the mouse, bringing the screen to life.

**Fang: I have the worst hangover ever.**

**Story_ of_ a_ Mutant: Serves** **you right for drinking.**

**Fang: Are you saying you don't drink?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Nope.**

**Fang: You've got to be the weirdest teenager I've ever talked to.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: You say it like it's a bad thing. And I have WINGS. Of course I'm not normal.**

**Fang: Well, you seem normal enough except for the wings.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Believe me when I say I'm not.**

**Fang: So what are you doing for New Year's?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Nothing. My sister and parents are going to watch the ball drop in Times Square.**

**Fang: You live in NYC? Me too.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I wasn't supposed to say that, was I?**

**Fang: YES! Now I can finally stalk you.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Sorry to burst your bubble, but NYC has a ton of people. You can't find me. :)**

**Fang: I can try...wanna meet up at Times Square tomorrow?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I don't know, you still could be a creepy pedo.**

**Fang: Please? Please? Please? Please?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Fine. Tell me what you look like so I have an idea of what I'm looking for.**

**Fang: Well, I have luscious brown hair and am incredibly handsome, of course.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: ...No, really.**

**Fang: My hair may not be that luscious, but I'm still incredibly handsome**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: ...**

**Fang: Fine. I have dark brown hair and I'll probably be wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: That narrows it down a bunch. *grumbles***

**Fang: What? Do you want me to wear a pink t-shirt with rainbows on it?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Actually, hm, that would narrow it down a LOT more. *winks***

**Fang: In your dreams, girly.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I sure hope it will be.**

**Fang: -.-**

**Fang: so. What do** _**you** _ **look like?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Well, I have the most amazing bleach blonde hair, with dazzling blue eyes, and will probably be wearing a pink mini skirt and a tube top two sizes too small. :)**

**Fang: Come on, now you're just teasing me.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Yup. I actually have dirty blonde hair, brown eyes, and will be wearing something fairly old and worn down.**

**Fang: That narrows it down a bunch too.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I know, but what else can I say?**

**Fang: How about you just wear a large name tag that says "Story_of_a_Mutant"?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Nah, I want to make it more of a competition. To see who finds the other first.**

**Fang: Fine, but when I find you, I'm going to give you a huge sloppy, wet kiss, just to let you know that I win.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: And I'll eat you. See you there!**

**(Story_of_a_Mutant has logged off)**

Fang sat in his room, wondering why the hell he was talking to this girl in the first place. It wasn't like she was anything special, and her claim that she had wings could very well be false.

But she had spoken of things only someone with wings could know about. Like that itch you got behind your left wing after flying. Or how if you flapped slightly harder you would excel, but it was a lot more tiring. Fang was intrigued. Now that he knew this nameless girl was in New York, he could figure out what it was about her he liked, besides the wings. He had begun to think of her as "Story", because that's what it seemed like. He had found someone like him and it seemed like he was in a fairytale story.

It was also the shortened version of her username, but that didn't sound half as poetic as this.

He didn't know why he had said that he would hug her. He wasn't generally a  _hugger_. Fang started to ponder over it more when his cell phone buzzed. He sighed when he checked the caller ID. "What do you want, Lissa?" he asked in an irritated tone.

Lissa was becoming more annoying day by day. She was so clingy. Sure, she was quite a bit of fun when she was drunk, but when she wasn't, well, Fang hated her. "Hey, Nick-y poo! Whatcha doing?"

One thing you should know about Fang: He hated the name Nick.

He hated it with a passion. It was his dad's name, passed down from generation to generation. Fang didn't get along with his dad, no-sir-ee.

"Nothing, sweetie," he answered through gritted teeth. If he had his way, he'd spend all his time on a lonely island somewhere with his guitar and a couple of books, away from everyone else. But of course, he couldn't. He knew he had to hide the secret of his wings, so what better way to hide than in plain sight? He sought out attention, even though he didn't want it. He figured that if everyone believed in the image he put on for the public, no one would ever know.

He suddenly wondered if this girl he was talking to went to school with him. It could be anyone he knew. Would they use the same tactic, or be an outsider? Someone no one noticed? Someone who was never the center of attention? Someone like…

"So, McCuttieKins, do you want to go out today? We could see a movie, or go to a party or..." Fang zoned out there.

"Um, HELLO. Are you listening to me, babe?" Lissa asked angrily.

"Yes, you wanted to see a movie or something?"

"It's New Year's Eve. Let's go out," Lissa whined.

Damn. Fang had to avoid Lissa today, if he was ever going to meet Story. Fang suddenly realized he was blowing off his own girlfriend for some chick he talked to online. He was about to tell her he would go with her, when he looked back at his computer screen. A girl with wings... A girl with wings.

"Sorry, Lissa, I have to go with my family today. But maybe tomorrow we could." Lissa cut him off with a wail. "But, whhhhy? Nicky, I'm your girlfriend. You should spend New Year's with me! I have some real fun planned later..."

Fang didn't want to imagine what "fun" she had planned. No doubt it included skimpy clothing and Lissa speaking "seductively".

He shuddered.

"We can do something tomorrow, okay?" Fang answered hastily, anything to get her to go away.

"Hm, I'll hold you to that promise," Lissa replied.

Fang groaned internally. He just dug himself a hole, and was stuck in it. Fang bid his good-byes to his whiny girlfriend and dropped his phone on the desk. He got up and walked to his closet. "Well," he muttered to himself, "got to find something to wear."

He dug deep in his closet for his old Iron Maiden t-shirt. He put it on, and debated to change out of his old jeans or not. They had a hole in one knee, but they were his favorite.

"Fang, why are you just standing in front of your closet looking confused?" a voice asked him. Fang turned around to see his adopted sister Nudge standing in the doorway, her face practically pressed against her phone, which she was rapidly texting on. She was three years younger than him, but she already understood him better than most of his friends. For one thing, she knew to call him "Fang".

Fang stood just there, not answering. Nudge surveyed the closet and soon her eyes flicked back to him. It suddenly hit her. "You never care much about what you wear. You're obviously not going out with Lissa," Nudge smiled and flopped on his bed. "Who is she?" she asked with a wicked grin.

Fang muttered something incoherent in response to her probing question. Nudge didn't know about his wings, and there was no way he could explain a connection with a random girl on the Internet without bringing them into the picture. And Fang wanted his little sister to think that he was normal.

"Tell me. Does she go to your school?" Nudge tried to get the answer out of him. When Fang didn't reply, Nudge pouted. "I hate it when you turn all silent like this. It's soooo annoying."

Nudge suddenly spied a composition notebook lying on Fang's desk. It was nothing special—just a regular old Mead composition book. She hurried over to it, and before Fang could stop her, she had opened it.

"HOLY SHIT, FANG, YOU WRITE POETRY?"

"Ugh, no!" Fang's futile protests made no difference to Nudge. She set her eyes on the book, and started to read. Fang jumped on her, trying to get his book. Nudge started to read he poem out loud. Fang tried to get to the book, but she kept it just out of reach.

"Sick of trying; Tired of crying; Yeah, I'm smiling; But inside I'm dying," she read. "Fang, I had no idea you were so...emo," Nudge said with a giggle.

"Give it back!" Fang yelled. He tried to grab the notebook out of his sister's hands, but Nudge punched him in the gut, catching him off guard. She turned to a random page. On the page was a list of girls' names, some crossed out, some with question marks next to them.

"What's this?" Nudge asked aloud.

Fang sure wasn't going to tell her that he had been trying to guess Story's real name.

"Candy, Jennifer, Natalie, what are you trying to do?" Nudge suddenly got a look in her eyes. "So which of these lucky ladies are you taking out tonight?" Fang's eyes widened. Nudge looked down the list, and even if he was her big brother, it's not like she didn't know his reputation. "So the ones crossed out are the ones you already screwed?

"Nudge," he whined like a 5-year-old boy who had recently been told that he couldn't dress up as Spider-Man for Halloween. "I'm not that bad."

Nudge laughed. "From what I've heard, yes you are."

Fang scratched his head. "It's kind of awkward when even your little sister knows you're a bit of a…"

"Man-whore?" Nudge asked, filling in the silent gap in the conversation."And I don't care who you're thinking of asking out. Just as long as it's not Lissa."

"What's wrong with Lissa?" Fang asked defensively. But then he realized the answer to his own question. Lissa was annoying and bitchy. He knew Nudge didn't like her.

"Everything," Nudge mumbled, looking back to her phone, which was signaling a new message

And then, Fang was once again wondering why he put up with her. Hell if he knew.

* * *

Fang drove to Times Square, avoiding the mass of people that were already gathering. He looked around, trying to see if there was any girl who matched the vague description Max had given him. Yeah. There were like a million of them.

He parked in a nearby side street and got out of his car. He stared into the crowd, determined to find this girl before she found him. He saw a lot of blondes, none of them really sticking out to him. He looked and looked, not seeing anyone.

He was hoping that when he saw Max, he'd know immediately. Maybe there'd be some halo around her head. Maybe she'd glow. Maybe she'd speak to him and it would feel like she was singing...and he'd just know right then and there.

But this wasn't a fairy tale, and he knew she could be anyone of them. Then, a thought occurred to Fang. The sky. He ran behind the nearest bathroom, about to take off. Right as he rounded the corner, he saw two figures in the dark. It was obviously a private moment, because they were so into each other, they didn't notice him at first. He slowly backed away, trying not to be noticed.

But something stopped him. A flash of red hair caught in the light. He dreaded the moment they noticed him. Lissa turned her head from the other figure. A fiery rage rose up in Fang. Lissa was cheating on him. Lissa was cheating on him. His overprotective, bitch of a girlfriend.

And then Fang realized that he might as well have some fun with this.

"Lissa...is that you?" Fang forced himself to sound broken, defeated. But inside, he was laughing his ass off. Not literally, of course. Lissa spun around more quickly that Fang thought her capable. Her eyes widened when she realized that it was her boyfriend and not just anyone totally random.

"Oh, it's not what it looks like," she protested. Her eyes looked panicked.

"What it LOOKS like is that you're cheating on me. How could you, honey? How could you?" Fang really had to commend his own acting abilities. He sounded like frickin Romeo.

Lissa was momentarily confused. Fang had never used endearments like "honey" with her before. Then she regained her wits and the massive amounts of apologizing began.

Fang smirked inwardly.

He didn't care for Lissa, so her apologizing really meant nothing. If this encounter did anything, it was 1) get Lissa off his back, and 2) lower his ego a bit. He hadn't thought that anybody, especially Lissa, would cheat on him. It lowered him a peg on the ego scale. Sure, he cheated all the time, but it never seemed a possibility to happen to him. While he was mulling this over, he failed to notice Lissa come to the end of the apologies. Now was the time to get rid of the bitch for good.

"Lissa, we're over," he said firmly.

There were tears in her eyes. "But I LOVE you, Nicky-poo."

He shook his head. "Save it for your new boyfriend over there. He pointed a thumb to the guy she had been cheating on him with. The guy looked more excited than he should. Whatever, he'd learn that Lissa wasn't all she seemed to be.

"You'll regret this one day!" Lissa threatened, tears in her eyes. She pointed an accusing finger at Fang. "You're such an ass. YOU cheated on me hundreds of times."

Fang smirked, outside this time. It was time to drop the Romeo act. "That is because," he said smugly, "you are worth nothing to me. Just something to pass the time." And with that, he walked away, leaving an open mouthed, tear-streaked Lissa.

Now back to his quest of finding Story. She could be anyone, actually. The description she had given him could very well be fake, though she didn't seem like the type to lie. The thought that she really could be lying didn't cheer him up any.

And so Fang wandered in the crowds, just looking around. Every minute, more people arrived. They pressed into him, and he felt a tad claustrophobic. He just wanted to whip out his wings and fly out of there.

But since that wouldn't be socially acceptable, he decided against it.

He kept searching, not seeing even one girl that could be Story. Soon, he felt like he should just give up looking and hope that she could find him. Maybe, with both of them searching, constantly moving, they were unintentionally avoiding each other. It was only thirty minutes to New Year's, and it was pretty useless now. The crowd was roaring and the bodies smashed together. Fang was feeling more and more claustrophobic. That was until his eyes made one final sweep through the crowd.

Then he saw her.

Fang grinned, running up to the girl. She matched Story's description of herself perfectly!

He tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around to see who wanted her attention. When she saw Fang, there was no light of recognition in her eyes. That was when he began to have his first doubts about this girl. A lot of girls could fit Story's description.

How the hell was he supposed to find out if she was really Story or not anyway?

"Um...do you happen to have," he paused, "wings?" he asked hesitantly.

The girl stared.

Fang made awkward flapping motions with his arms, as if to clarify. Soon afterward, he cursed mentally. Must have looked like an idiot.

"Hello? Are you still there?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her blank face.

Suddenly, she started laughing. "Wings...really?" she sputtered. Fang felt his face burn. "So it's true. The hot ones are either gay or crazy. Shame," she said to her friend, who burst into giggles as well.

"Bye...weirdo," she said. She waved at him and linked arms with her friend. They walked away, muttering about how the men of this generation simply weren't as great as Edward Cullen.

Fang paused for a second, wondering how he went from looking for Story to being compared to Edward Cullen.  _I mean,_  he thought,  _at least compare me to Jacob_.  _He has abs._  But at that thought, he wondered if the really hot ones were crazy AND gay.

But then quickly denied the thought. He wasn't crazy! Or gay! He shook his head slightly, launching himself back into the crowd, and all of his earlier resentments toward finding her were gone. This girl had given him a strange kind of hope. She had made him realize that if he found a girl who could be Story, just get her to notice him, if she seemed to recognize him, then it would probably be her.

But this plan was harder than he originally thought.

Fang went from girl to girl, trying to see if they recognized him. He must have tapped on the shoulders of more than 20. He had even had to kick one to get her attention.

Needless to say, he got hit with her purse.

Multiple times.

None of the girls recognized him. It was nearly midnight, and Fang was ready to give up. This had been a pointless venture. Why did he think he'd be able to succeed? He kept his eyes on the ground, walking to his car. He didn't want to see anyone in case he accidentally snapped at them for no reason. And then, he saw something interesting.

A piece of paper with his latest blog entry printed on it.

He widened his eyes. Standing next to it was a girl. She didn't seem to notice the piece of paper lying on the ground next to her. She was alone and was looking around wildly, as if searching for someone. He could only see her backside but...

She looked like Story.

The countdown to the new year began.

She seemed to look like Story, the same blonde hair and worn down clothes as described.  _10..._

He wondered if this was really her. After all that searching, could she really just appear like that?  _9..._

He couldn't be sure. He didn't want another Edward Cullen comparison session.  _8..._

But the blog entry, could that be a coincidence?  _7..._

This girl seemed to be searching for someone. Could it be him?  _6..._

She didn't seem to notice the commotion around her, the countdown going on.  _5..._

He wondered if he should really kiss her, like he'd said online.  _4..._

But he'd meant that as a joke, and she knew it, right?  _3..._

But it'd be the perfect way to surprise her, and he'd been looking all day. He was frustrated and desperate.  _2..._

And it was just a kiss!  _1..._

Ah, why the hell not?

The ball dropped, and Fang whipped the girl around and planted a kiss right on her, and he knew. This had to be Story!

After the kiss, he stepped back, to see who he had been kissing. He had a feeling that he would have a great conversation with this girl and then he'd sweep her off her feet.

_It was Max._

* * *

She saw a flash of black hair and Iron Maiden t-shirt before he kissed her. Normally, if she wasn't looking for a mysterious bird kid/ internet stalker, she would have freaked out. But since it was her last hope, she knew it had to be him. To be Fang. Maybe it was just her subconscious, wishing desperately to be less of a freak, to find someone with the same problem as her.

But for all that it was worth, she kissed him back.

As the ball dropped, she kissed him just like almost all of the other couples around them. At the moment, she felt less alone than she had in her whole life. He was here... He was here...

After their embrace ended, a little longer than necessary, she might add, she saw his face. A flash of confusion swept across her features, and then recognition.

It was Nick.

It was Nick.

It was  _Nick_...

Holyshithecan'tbeFangholyshitfuckfuckfuck.

And she added one last "fuck" for good measure.

She refused to believe it. He was probably looking for someone else. Yeah, that seemed plausible. One of his whores that he would fuck that night. That kiss was meant for someone else.

But he was so WARM!

Aw, eff. Max decided to stop thinking.

"What are you doing here?" Nick asked her angrily. He looked as shocked as she was.

"I have as much right to be here as you!"

"Can you explain this?" He grabbed the blog entry of the ground and held it in her face. She had brought it today to read over it so that she could connect with him, and hopefully find him sooner. Her logic didn't make sense, but she had wanted to try. And maybe she wanted him to "accidentally" see it and realize she was the one he was looking for.

But this was completely the wrong guy.

"I have no idea what that is," Max insisted.

"You sure?"

"Positive," she hissed.

But Nick wasn't going to give up yet. "Why are you near my car?"

"Oh this is yours? I couldn't tell because there's no half-naked whore in the back seat."

Nick ignored the jab.

Max decided she didn't owe him an explanation. "Why the fuck did you kiss me?"

"Because I thought you were the slut I was going to fuck tonight," Nick replied angrily. And was that sarcasm Max detected? He looked around, as if looking for someone, and that person was definitely not the person standing in front of him.

"In your dreams," Max snorted.

"I sure hope not. THAT would be a nightmare."

"You're a nightmare!" Max replied, half because she was angry, half because she didn't have another comeback.

Max was about to kick him in the nuts when a woman in her early 20's glared at her and Nick. "Can you kids take your fight somewhere else?" she asked irritably.

"Lady..." Max began. Nick kicked her before she could go on. She rubbed her shin in pain and glared at Nick.

"Yes, of course, ma'am," Nick said charmingly. The woman seemed to melt before him. Seemed like she wasn't too old to be able to resist Nick's borderline flirtations. Her companion did not look happy that his woman was charmed by a punk who was younger and smaller than he was.

Nick pulled Max away from the main crowd. She shoved him away as soon as she got the chance. She was shaking in anger and disappointment.

"I'm going home," she announced.

"Good," he said curtly. "I don't know why the hell you showed up anyway. You don't seem like the party and crowd type."

Max reeled in shock. Had Nick had a moment of actual insight?

"No one wants to be around you anyway, so it all works out," he added. She groaned. Of course.

Max walked to her car and got in. Nick didn't follow her. He walked to his car and didn't even spare a glance in her direction. She was disappointed for some odd reason, but she dispelled the feeling immediately.

It was ONE kiss. Meant for the WRONG person. She couldn't feel anything for him except loathing.

He had stolen her first kiss.

Max drove home, deciding that when she talked to Fang again, she wouldn't mention this little incident. It was already embarrassing enough. Nick Norris! She had touched him!

When Max got home, she promptly took a shower to purge her body of any germs that happened to be on that disgusting boy. She made sure to brush her teeth twice.

* * *

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Where were you?**

**Fang: What are you talking about? Where were** _**you** _ **?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I was there. I bet you weren't even looking, you got too caught up with some blonde chicks. XD Jkkkkk...**

**Fang: I was busy looking for you! What were you wearing?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Exactly what I said I was. I bet you were wearing that rainbow striped tee-shirt, and that's why I couldn't find you. Why can't you be normal?**

**Fang: I was perfectly normal! Makeup and overly tight pants are normal! O.O**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Sure. We non-normal kids wear clothes that fit. I forgot! Sorry! XD**

**Fang: ...Thanks for being supportive...Amanda?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Nope. Guess again.**

**Fang: Carrie?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Nope.**

**Fang: Wendy?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Think...M.**

**Fang: Mary?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Nope.**

**Fang: ...Shish-kebab?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Yes. Totally. I can't believe you guessed correctly.**

**Fang: *huggles Shish-kebab***

**Story_of_a_Mutant: *huggles* Damn, won't you be embarrassed to have a friend with** _**that** _ **name? XD**

**Fang: No, 'cause then they'd be edible...That sounds sexual.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: You know you meant it like that. XD**

**Fang: So what's new? Do you have school today?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Subject change much? XD And yes, I do.**

**Fang: ...Any hot guys you have your eye on? *nudge nudge wink wink***

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I don't know. Any hot guys** _**you** _ **have your eye on, big boy?**

**Fang: ...How would you know if I'm big or not?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I have my ways...**

**Fang: DO YOU STALK ME? *lowers blinds* *hides axe under pillow***

**Macx: You know it. Be careful. I'm on the prowl.**

**Fang: *cough* I'll just sic my ex-girlfriend on you. She's crazy.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: This will be fun. Is she blonde? I have a lot of fun with blondes. Wow, that sounded sexual too. What is with us today?**

**Fang: We're horny teenagers who always have sex on our minds. That's my excuse for everything.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: I bet. "Fang, did you clean your room?" "No mom, I was thinking about my girlfriend naked."**

**Fang: Yup. My non-existent one. *nods* Just broke up with mine yesterday.**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Why was that? She get tired of not being able to get your pants off because they're too small?**

**Fang: Actually, yes. You guessed it. *cries* Why is the world so cruel?**

**Story_of_a_Mutant: Well, I have to get to school before I'm late…on my first day back.**

**Fang: Bye.**

**(Fang logs out)**

**(Story_of_a_Mutant logs out)**

 

Max sighed and turned off her laptop reluctantly. She would rather stay home and talk to Fang all day rather than go to school and face a new semester full of everyone she hated. She slipped on her worn Vans and headed out the door. Before she got on the school bus, she looked up at the sky surreptitiously, as if to see if a winged boy wearing dark clothes was flying overhead. Sadly, she was disappointed.

She stood at the bus stop, waiting for her bus. Only two hissing alley cats kept her company. She sat on the curb, head resting in her hands. She felt small raindrops hit her head. Soon, it was downright pouring.  _Great, just what I needed,_ Max thought as she pulled her worn hood over her head.

Maybe this was an omen of bad things to come.  _Maybe?_  she thought.  _Definitely is more like it_.  
The bus was a sickly yellow color, and Max was reluctant to board it. But knowing that if she didn't, she would have no transportation to school, she sighed and got on. There was already a multitude of people on the bus, and the noise level was high. The bus driver had her earphones plugged into her ears, and Max could hear the music from three feet away.  _That can't be safe_ , she thought.

She sat in a random seat toward the back of the bus, next to a nerdy-looking kid who was trying, and failing, to finish his science project. When the bus started moving again, the boy's arm jerked, and he spilled liquid glue all over Max's shirt. She groaned.

It was a great way to start the day. And her day didn't improve when Nick boarded the bus as well. He looked hot, as usual, and Max wasn't going to deny how good- looking he was. But all the hot guys were asses, and that was just a fact of life. Nick's eyes zeroed in on Max, and he blushed, remembering what had occurred between them on New Year's. He quickly slipped into a seat at the front of the bus that had been saved for him and began to sweet talk his horde of fangirls.

Max sighed in relief. He wasn't going to talk to her about what had happened. Just how she wanted it. Max stared out the bus window, cursing herself for forgetting to bring her iPod. If she had remembered, she wouldn't have to listen to the kid next to her talking to himself while he continued to try to finish, evein though most of his gle was on her shirt.

Several slams of the brake and a run-over pigeon later, they arrived at their school. Max climbed from the steps, avoiding eye contact with everyone around her. She got to her class and sat down as the last of the stragglers made their way in. The bell rang, and the teacher yelled at them to be quiet as he passed out a test. A few students groaned, and several positioned their backpacks as a makeshift pillow, getting ready to blow off their test and get the hour of shut eye they were deprived of this morning.

Max felt a pair of eyes staring into her back. She turned around cautiously, afraid of what she might see. She saw a pair of dark eyes looking into hers and turned around quickly, as soon as she made eye contact.

 _Nick_.

He coughed awkwardly and she stiffened in her seat. All she could remember were his warm arms around her for that one fleeting moment before they realized who the other was. And if she turned around now to see if Nick wanted to speak to her, he would probably just make a snide remark.

He coughed again.

"Will you  _shut up_?" Max hissed. "I'm trying to read here." She gestured at the novel lying in front of her, and Nick looked amused.

"You read?" he said.

"And you don't? On second thought," Max continued, "our library doesn't have anything below a second grade level, so you wouldn't be able to read anything there anyway."

Nick scowled at her as she turned around again and opened her book back up. Max was being nastier to him than usual because she was afraid he would say something about the other night if she kept talking to him.

"Hm, well, I'm surprised you're wearing a Justin Bieber t-shirt right now," Nick retorted, a bit late. For the first time that day, Max looked down at what she was wearing. To her complete surprise, Justin Bieber's smiling face was staring back to her. How the hell had this gotten in her closet?

One word: Ella.

Max growled in disbelief and cursed. Nick smirked at her reaction. "Never thought you'd go for a girl."

"At least she's manlier than you," Max snapped.

"Hey," Nick said amused, "My hair is way more awesome."

Before Max could reply, the teacher walked by her desk.

"Is there a problem here?" she asked.

"Of course not, Mrs. Bray," Nick said sweetly, smiling at the middle-aged teacher. She seemed to get the swoon look that all girls got when he used that smile. Except for Max of course. Well, maybe even Max. But she would never admit it.

"Uhh, uhh... No talking during the test," Mrs. Bray stammered out.

"My sincerest apologies," Nick said, as the teacher walked away, swooning.

Max must have had a "what the hell" look on her face because Nick looked satisfied. "Ladies love me," he said.  _So modest_ , Max thought.

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you just brainwashed all of them."

"Well, if it gets me laid, I'm not complaining."

Max's face turned red. "You complete pervert!"

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Just...go away, why don't you?" yelled Max. All eyes in the room turned to her. She widened her eyes. "Uh..." she said awkwardly.

A few kids snickered as someone in the back made a meowing sound. Max slammed her book closed and shoved it in her bag. She walked up front and threw her untouched test on the teacher's desk. Just then, the bell rang, and she walked out as fast as possible.

* * *

Fang laughed quietly when he saw Max stalk out the door. He enjoyed infuriating this girl because she was so easy to annoy. Maybe he should feel guilty about it.

There was a little voice in his mind telling him that part of the reason he liked annoying her so much was that she had this kind of unappreciated beauty that most people couldn't see. She wasn't classically pretty - no, she was merely okay-looking. But engaging in stimulating conversations with her certainly made Fang think of her in a new light.

But it was clear to him that she had no interest. This also evoked something in him. He usually had girls swooning over him. How could he get forty year old teachers to love him but not this simpleminded girl?

He was shocked, but it was a passing craze, he could tell. There was nothing special about her - he just seemed like a challenge to him. A relationship couldn't be built on a challenge. What happened when the challenge no longer existed?

No more mystery? No more reason to try? He didn't think that was anything to build on.  _A relationship can definitely be built on really awesome kisses though_ , the voice in the back of his head reminded him. And that kiss on New Year's was definitely one  _awesome_  kiss.

 _Shut up._  Fang didn't want to think about that at all.

As he collected his stuff, a guy who was sort of familiar to him came up. He looked fidgety and nervous as he seemed to be looking for a way to say hello. While he was doing this, Nick tried to place him. He definitely wasn't part of Nick's group, though he dressed like it. Pleated pants, button-up shirt, designer shoes. He still didn't get where the guy was from, as he finally spoke.

"Uhh, hey," the dude said. He fidgeted with the strap of his book bag and shifted his weight to his other foot.

"I'm, uhh, Marco," the boy said, extending his slightly shaking hand. Nick was puzzled at this boy, not getting why he was so nervous. Sure, people were nervous when they spoke to popular kids like him but not this bad. After an awkward moment, the kid's ignored hand fell slowly to his side.

"Listen uhh," the kid started, and just then, the tardy bell rang for the next period. Nick cursed as he rushed to gather the rest of his things. Kids from the next period were already trickling in.

The boy jumped and finally slipped a piece of paper in Nick's hand.

"Call me," the kid, Marco, Nick corrected himself, as he rushed to the door. Nick's eyes widened as he finally understood. The kid was gay. He suddenly remembered pulling a prank on the kid with his friends. But that didn't make sense. Why would the kid talk to him? Usually kids like him avoided Nick. What was going on here?

Fang walked out of the door in a bewildered state, wondering if he had been put in an alternate universe. He had no problem against gays, but it was just weird that one would slip him his phone number.

What if...he thought Fang was gay?

But that was wrong - Fang had made it perfectly clear that he was very straight, due to his whoring around with girls.

Fang's mind flashed back to the night with the girls comparing him to Edward Cullen. He shuddered at the memory.

On his way to his next class, Fang ran into a guy on the football team. He wasn't very well-acquainted with him. He only knew his name - Roger. But Fang felt like talking to a bunch of people today to make sure that today wasn't a backwards day or something of the sort.

"Hey," he greeted.

When Roger saw him, he widened his eyes. "I have to go to my...next class," he stuttered. He walked away nervously, not looking back at Fang.

What the hell?

Fang suddenly remembered that Roger was well-known for being a homophobe.

_Shit._

Nick rushed down the hall as he became aware of people staring at him. Some whispered, and a few pointed.

_What the fuck is going on?_

As he rounded the corner, he bumped into a girl texting on her cell phone. They both went sprawling across the floor.

He jumped up and grabbed some of her stuff, handing it to her. Before she recovered, he noticed her phone flipped open on the top of the stack he picked up. There was a picture currently on the screen. Fang studied it, his gut sinking a mile a minute.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK._

It was a picture of him.

Kissing a guy.

Fang distinctly remembered not ever kissing any guys ever in his lifetime. And he was pretty sure he was correct.

Well,  _pretty_ sure.

"What the fuck is this?" he asked the girl, shoving the phone in her face. Forget about his charming demeanor. Someone was going to get punched in about three seconds.

"You and your new boy toy, gay-o," the girl replied snottily as she snatched her stuff and walked off

Fang wondered what the source of this stupidity was. Was it Max? She had hated him for quite a bit - and for no reason at all.

He went off in search of Max, planning to get some answers out of her, but he encountered someone he didn't expect along the way.

She was standing with their regular group, laughing her ass off. But Fang knew that laugh. She only laughed like that when she had done something nasty to someone.

And then he knew.

He strode up to Lissa, grabbed her arm roughly, and pulled her away. She hit the lockers as he let go of her, no doubt trying to make it seem like he was hurting her.

"What the fuck is your problem?" he growled, and for a second, she looked genuinely scared.

"Nicky, you hurt my arm!" she whined.

"You know as well as I do that I did not hurt your arm. Now tell me what the fuck is going on."

Lissa pursed her lips. "You got what you deserved. That's all."

By now, there was a group of bystanders gathering around watching the fight between the school's former golden couple.

"What in the name of God did I do for you to spread a dumb ass rumor about me being fucking  _gay?_ "

Lissa slipped a mask of innocence for the people surrounding

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Is this your way of expressing your anger at me breaking up with you because I caught you with him?" Fake tears started to swell in Lissa's eyes.

A guy finally broke through the crowd and put a rough hand on Fang's shoulder.

"Now you better leave this poor girl alone before I knock the gay out of your ass," he said in what he must have assumed was a menacing voice.

Fang glared at the guy. "It's not true. I don't know why you would listen to rumors from  _her_." He gestured at Lissa, and his voice was stony cold. Fang wanted to yell at him for being this rude to gays – if he was like this to Fang and he was already annoyed, who knew how his comments would affect real gays? But exploding at him about it wasn't going to help his case much.

"Well, why should I listen to you?" the guy retorted.

Fang rolled his eyes. "Maybe it's because I've never given any indication that I'm gay whatsoever."

"You could be in the closet."

"I think I know my own sexuality, thanks," Fang said sarcastically.

"Yeah," Lissa butts in snidely, "you're queer, and now everyone knows that I was just a cover-up." A cover up? What? At this point, Fang was just severely pissed off, and slightly confused. Where was she getting all of this? Would she really just make all of this up because he dumped her? Oh wait, he thought, she's a bitch. Yeah, she would.

So, doing what any level-headed teenage boy would do, he walked off. And once he rounded the corner, he punched the brick wall of the building.

Yup, totally level-headed.

He wasn't mad because everyone had thought badly of him, not really. He knew that it would all blow over in the end, like most high school gossip. He  _was_  surprised that Lissa would do something like this, and that shock had turned to anger. When they had been dating, she had never acted like this, but now…

Yeah, he didn't know her.

As these thoughts were running through his head, he registered the pain in his now scraped-up knuckles. Cursing himself into oblivion, he surveyed the damage, happy to see that he didn't break skin. That didn't stop it from hurting like a mo-fo, though. Turning, he ignored the many sets of staring eyes, making his way across the school's courtyard. Fang knew that he shouldn't go to class, being the uncharacteristically emotional wreck he was. He supposed that all those years of having as many emotions as a brick wall were starting to catch up with him.

The bell rang, but he found that he didn't care. It was time that his emo hair caught up to him and made the rest of him emo too, and he found himself walking toward the bathroom sulkily.

He'd probably hide in there all period until he could regain his composure and get the fact that hurting Lissa would not solve his problems through his thick head.

Sweeping his bangs out of his eyes, he stared more. How the hell had Lissa photo-shopped him kissing a guy? He made sure of the fact that he was never photographed; it was just something he hated. He never looked good in pictures. Lissa must have had some major resources with that one, seeing as she didn't even know how to turn on a computer, much less use it.

He sat his backpack down on the bathroom floor (probably a bad idea since he had no idea how many germs had accumulated there). Looking at it made him feel guilty - he had a project that he had to finish up. It was due in a few days, but true to Typical Teenager form, he had procrastinated.

 _Well, if I'm skipping class, I may as well finish this_ , he thought.

Deciding that it would be awkward if someone walked in the bathroom while he was doing his project on the floor, he went to the library. The librarian glared at him like she knew that he was skipping class, but he finally convinced her that he had a study hall that period, and his teacher had said he could come to do some research on penguins of Antarctica. He had only picked that topic because he knew his science teacher had a soft spot for cute things, and what's cuter than cuddly little birds that walk funny?

He walked over to the computer area to maybe get some helpful insight from his lovely friend, Mr. Wikipedia, but he stopped short when he saw that four of the five computers were taken, and the last was not even plugged into the wall. Cursing his bad luck, he went and tried to find an actual book in one of the many reference sections of the library, to no avail. It seemed that this library did not think that penguins existed or they were just way too awesome to be contained in something as boring as a book.

Fang figured that he had a whole nother two days to procrastinate again, so he searched for something else to pass the time, seeing as he still didn't feel like going back to his class to see Lissa's bitchy face again.

And there she was, the adequate solution to dilemma: Max Ride.

She was even talking to a laptop. This was almost too easy.

He slid into the seat next to her and grabbed the laptop, making the screen face him instead of her. He quickly read the words on the screen. Fang read about a paragraph before his eyes glazed over. "What is this?"

Max grabbed the laptop back from him with a bit more violence than was necessary. "It's my debate case," she said matter-of-factly.

Fang guessed that he shouldn't have been surprised that she was on the debate team. She was so argumentative that he could definitely imagine her doing this at tournaments for fun. Fang didn't know too many people on the debate team - probably because most of them were crazy fanatics who spent most of their time cracking inside jokes and discussing the slow degradation of our political system.

"So...what's it about?"

"Domestic violence. Whether or not victims have a right to kill their abuser," Max said tersely.

Okay, apparently, she really didn't want to talk to him.

"Which side are you on?" Fang asked, suddenly curious. It's not like he had anything else to do but bother Max when she so obviously wanted him to get lost.

"I'm not  _on_  a side. It's  _debate._  I have to argue both sides, and holy shit I'm so not ready for this tournament," she trailed off as she said the last part, not seeming to really be talking to him anymore. She grimaced and turned back to her laptop.

"Can I help?" The words were out of his mouth before he could reconsider his offer.

Max stared at him in disbelief. "You want to...help me?"

He shrugged, playing it off like it was no big deal. "I do like arguing with you..."

Max laughed wryly. "I highly doubt you can help me with this."

Fang scoffed. "Sure I can."

"Really. Do you know what social contract theory is? What defines a moral obligation? What retributive justice is? Natural law? Difference between 'morally permissible' and 'morally obligatory'?" Max smirked at his confused expression. "Didn't think so."

Was it bad that her use of unfamiliar terms kind of turned him on - just a bit?

"Do you enjoy pushing people away?" he inquired.

"What? I do not! I only do it to you because you're vile," she spat.

"No, you don't push people away at all. Really explains the fact that you have no friends."

"You –" Her eyes narrowed suddenly, and her mouth curved into a smile. Seemed like she had thought of something. "I may not have very many friends, but at least my friends don't turn against me as soon as some bitchy ex of mine makes up rumors about me."

Fang sighed. "You saw that?"

"No. But I heard about it. I think everyone's pretty much heard about it by now."

He shook his head. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"Speaking of which..." Max paused, "why are you even talking to me?"

Fang gestured around the rest of the library, where everyone was deeply involved in whatever tasks they were doing - projects, reading, chewing gum while trying to avoid class, etc. "Does it look like I can talk to any of them?"

Max sighed in defeat. "Well, if you refuse to leave, I guess you can help me with something. My next tournament is a bad one. Parent judges and all. Most of them don't understand this stuff, so I want to explain something to you to see if my explanation makes sense to the general populace." She couldn't resist adding a quip in there. "I think your intelligence level is low enough that if you understand this, anyone will."

Fang considered his options and finally decided that he really had nothing else to do. Max unusually pleasant today, and maybe spending the next thirty minutes hearing her explain concepts he wouldn't understand would be an okay way to pass the time.

(It didn't have anything to do with the fact that she was kind of hot when she talked about these things, not at all.)

"Sure," he complied.

She hesitated before she started speaking. "Okay, so social contract argument."

He interrupted. "Contract? Do I have to sign?"

Max glared at him, but there was almost amusement in it, like she had heard this one too many times.

"It's a theory! Not a physical contract. Okay, so John Locke's social contract theory states that we enter a contact with the government to have our rights protected. When these rights aren't protected, we're allowed to disobey the government..."

And thus passed the rest of the period. Max did most of the talking, and he interjected when necessary. It was strange having a civil conversation with her (over philosophy of all things!), but it was kind of nice that they weren't fighting. And okay, so what if he spent most of that time staring at her lips and hair? Just because he thought she was a tiny bit attractive didn't mean he was  _attracted_  to her, for heaven's sake!

Their first civil conversation. Was it bad that Fang wanted another chance to do this with her already?

"Looks like it's time to go," he said as another bell rang, signaling the end of the period. He sat as she packed up.

"Thanks for today," she said in a civil tone, and she looked as if she was sort of trying to swallow her own pride and be nice to him, not like she hadn't been especially in the last half hour or so. He couldn't resist this moment, no matter how much he enjoyed spending a little time with her. "Any time, sweet cheeks. Just call," he said as he got up and winked.

"Yeah, because you hold an intelligent conversation. It was like talking to a brick wall," she finally snapped.

"Hey, I'm way more enticing than a brick wall," he replied. "I know you want me!"

"In your dreams," she said and stalked off.

"I'll be looking forward to it," he called after her. Smirking as he left, he decided that he did want more of those nice conversations with her, and hell, why not poke fun at her while he was at it?

 


End file.
